In a story for the Spikes website, Evan Jager detailed his battle with injury over the past two seasons and the steps he’s taken to return to full health ahead of his tilt at a second Olympic medal in Tokyo next year.
The 31-year-old explained how the root of his injury traced back to the summer of 2018, when he picked up a stress fracture while racing in Zurich.
“I ran okay on the night, finished third, but I can remember landing heavily at one of the water jumps which, as I learned many months later, caused an impact fracture in the talus bone in my ankle,” wrote Jager.
“It was misdiagnosed at first, and after seven weeks off it didn’t feel any better. I got back running, but every step hurt. I could train, but as runners we know our bodies and I knew something was wrong. The hardest bit was trying to run and not think about my foot on every step. It was mentally and emotionally exhausting, having to grit through that every day. It sucked all the enjoyment out of running.”
After regaining his health in 2019, Jager set about launching a comeback though it wasn’t until February this year that he was able to make a return to racing, winning a mile race in Seattle in 3:56. He believes the injury granted him a new perspective.
“Since the injury, I’ve improved every couple of weeks and when I reflect on these past few years, I notice that the time away has changed my mentality. In 2017 and 2018 I was starting to treat track more like work – getting really, really intense – and that came from trying to be so professional that I wanted to do every little thing right. It took the enjoyment out of it a little, but I’ve realised that I can be light-hearted and have fun at the same time as being dialled in. I run my best when I’m enjoying myself and things are going well as opposed to stressing about running fast and hitting workouts perfectly.
“Right now, none of us know exactly when we’ll get back competing so the best approach is to enjoy the everyday. That’s what I’ve been trying to do this past month or two: push myself as hard as I can but do it from a place where I think: This isn’t what I have to do, this is what I enjoy.”